LONG TIME DEAD

Me and my mate Simon squeeze every last drop from our Scandinavian adventure. November 2024.

Whilst most of this trip was indeed with my mate Simon, the initial few nights involved a larger gathering. Simon’s daughter is studying in Copenhagen for the year so we decide to make it a party and also invite my kids Cam and Han with her partner Molly. Everyone is super excited.    

We have dinner and drinks on the first night in Copenhagen’s former meatpacking district. I came to this area on a previous visit to Copenhagen and have great memories. This time around was just as good. We eat at Mother. Fantastic pizza, living up to its reputation, but a very long wait for service on this occasion.

The next day has to be bikes. We first cycle up to Norrebro which is a fab district still retaining a nice bit of edge. Then we cross into Freetown Christiania. It is as lively and anarchic as everyone says. I needed a sleep before dinner!     

On the Sunday we take a train ride across the Oresund Bridge into the Swedish city of Malmo. It is just a short 35-minute journey. The kids persuade me that e-scooters should be our main form of transport for the day. It was a good call and we zoomed around both the inner areas and out to see the Ribersborgs open-air bath house on the beach, the landmark Turning Torso building and through a few regeneration areas. That evening we have a very competitive pool tournament back in Copenhagen at our posh-hostel (The Generator) which has great communal areas.  

The young ‘uns depart early Monday to get their flights. Me and Simon, freed up of parental responsibilities, go a bit crazy and take a late morning swim in the harbour. It was trunks only and extremely cold.

By mid-afternoon we are on the overnight ferry to Oslo. It is a 17-hour crossing at a pretty reasonable price of £70 inclusive of a cabin each. By 7pm we are well into the all-you-can-eat buffet – lots of pickled herring, rye bread and berries. I get a very good nights sleep on the ferry.

Despite the rain, the approach into Oslo along the Oslofjord is spectacular. We have just 24 hours in Norway so we crack on as soon as we dock at 10ish. After dropping bags off at the excellent Citybox Hotel we head to the Munch Museum and walk around the harbour. Backed by their oil and gas wealth fund the Norwegian government has invested heavily in the cultural infrastructure of the harbour area (Munch, Oslo Opera House, the Deichman Library etc) and you can easily spend 5-6 hours here surrounded by some impressive architecture.

Our early evening sauna at Oslo Badstuforening on the harbour is fantastic. This is a homespun sauna run by a co-operative that looks a bit incongruous amidst all the expensive new-builds but we love it. There is a very sociable crowd down there and the sauna is hot.

Candle buying in Oslo turned out to be a major event. We spotted an advert for the beautifully branded Norwegian Lowri candles in Copenhagen and thought they would be a nice gift for our partners. After a serious amount of searching, and as a result of Simon pushing me solo into Oslo’s top ladies hair salon, we eventually source our candles. Was worth the effort and secured us a lot of credit back home.  

Next morning we set off on a seven hour chunk of travel across Norway and Sweden. It is part bus and part train, arriving at our destination Stockholm at 4ish. It was actually a lovely day of reading, daydreaming and vehicles running to schedule.    

As with Oslo, we have just 24 hours in Stockholm. That first evening we go to the Vasa Museum. This was Simon’s suggestion and I loved it – it basically involves getting up close to the most intact 17th-century ship on the planet. The Vasa is an absolute beast. We then head on the tram to the Sodermalm district in search of some hipster joints. We find a superb little snug bar that I would highly recommend Katarina Ölkafé and then a fab pizza and craft beer joint Omnipollos Hatt.  

Our hotel in Stockholm is the very funky Downtown Camper which is part of the Scandic Hotels group. We start day seven of our trip with an 08.30 yoga class high in the hotel overlooking the city, followed by an excellent breakfast. We have time to mooch and eat falafel before squeezing in the superb Fotografiska photography museum. This was a highlight of the whole trip.      

We depart for Helsinki mid-afternoon. This involves another overnight ferry, with a very similar routine to our previous ferry trip a few nights earlier – so circa 17 hours, more all-you-can-eat buffet and a good kip in a comfortable cabin.     

For our three nights in Helsinki we get rooms in the Noli Studios in the Sörnäinen district. This is one of several Noli apart-hotels in Helsinki and has great rooms and communal areas. We choose the Sörnäinen district due to its industrial past and recent reinvention. It has a good vibe.  

We get our bearings in Helsinki and have lunch from one of the stalls in the old market hall. Friday early evening we get a ticket for the Allas sea pool complex. This place is amazing – a modern array of saunas, a plunge pool direct into the fjord and a 30m heated outdoor pool for lanes, all directly on the harbour. After a couple of hours at Allas we head back to Sörnäinen and find a top locals bar (Sivukirjasto) followed by yet more great pizza and craft beer across the road (Daddy Greens).

Next day we go touring around Helsinki, highlights being the Finnish Design Museum and the new 2018 central library (this amazing place features in a recent Guardian article Libraries for the future, europe’s new wave of meeting places for the mind). We are back in a posh sauna by tea-time – this time at Löyly in the Eira district. More intense heat and more fjord-dipping.

Sunday is our last full day of the trip. We take a commuter ferry over to the Suomenlinna island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that contains a seriously impressive sea fortress. I am feeling pretty cold when we return so we immediately comfort ourselves with a gigantic plate of fried fish under a gas heater at a pop-up outlet on the harbour.

That following morning is departure day back to the UK and I am starting to feel really rough. I hang around the hotel feeling sorry for myself whilst Simon has one last blast around Helsinki. After a dreadful first night back in the UK I do a COVID test and find that I have my first ever bout. This downbeat ending didn’t detract from an amazing trip jam-packed with great memories.

Post Trip Reflections:

Doing this trip in winter was fun but I would love to do the whole thing again one early-summer, and to do it over a longer three-week period to give me more time to explore.  

Individually all four cities provide great locations for short breaks. I had been to Copenhagen before but this was my first visit to the other three locations. They all have a different feel but good design, access to waterfronts and pickled fish are omnipresent.   

I am officially into saunas and the buzz they give you. Now I’m back in the UK I realise our saunas are positively tame. You need to get to Norway and Finland for some serious heat and to hear the locals brag about it. The heat intensity of your local sauna is seemingly the source of great competition throughout Scandinavia.

Don’t let the prospect of travelling with one mate for an extended period trouble you. Me and Simon enjoyed each other’s company, had some great chats and laughs and even solved UK Levelling Up over the course of the trip